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Yes, Ozuna wanted to stay here and was looking for a multi year contract from the Cardinals. When he didn’t get it,
he looked for it among other teams. The qualifying offer (only) from the Cardinals burned the bridge on both sides.
Neither party came back to the table. Too bad.get to know how a player plays under pressure, what kind of a teammate he is, how he interfaces with the manager and coaching staff, how he is with all the fans, and how he is within the community, does he care more about the name on the front of his uniform than the number on the back, etc.
I know DeWitt is at the top, but this evaluation is certainly not part of Mozeliak’s strategy. I think he likes to go saber and the heck with what you have stated above.
The reality that is ignored in the newest chapter of the same Ozuna rehashing is that the Cardinals did NOT want him back, on either a one-year deal or a multi-year deal. They made the QO only because they knew the odds were very high that he would not accept.
Any bridges that were burned were torched over the prior two years, not after he became a free agent. Again, the Cardinals did not want Ozuna back. They were never at the negotiating table in the first place, so they wouldn’t come back to it later.
As Ozuna explored his market, he found that he could not get a realistic multi-year offer – from ANY team. That confirms he perceived his value to be higher than it really was.
It is great for him that he resurrected his value in Atlanta. Both sides lucked out that the DH was added later, which enabled him to maximize his contribution in 2020. Whether he could have or would have performed that well had he remained with St. Louis is anyone’s guess, however.
We do know that Ozuna did not come anywhere near his 2020 level of offense in his two prior years with the Cardinals – or during his five years with Miami, either. Some wonder if his career-best 2020 was a 60-game anomaly. It seems a fair question. It will be interesting to see what the new contract he scores this winter looks like and how he goes on to perform in 2021.
But no matter what, I don’t understand the revisionist view of his time as a Cardinal and how and why he departed – every time it is brought up.
P.S. The last time Ozuna was raised, it was asserted that multiple sports writers had written that the Cardinals are interested in Ozuna THIS winter. When asked to share evidence of that, the discussion quickly ended – until popping up again here on yet another thread…
The fact of the matter is that people are in error when they say Ozuna didn’t perform here. If you want to compare it to his big year in Miami or his big year in Atlanta, sure. But in 2019 he had 29 home runs and 89 RBI in only 130 games. Playing with a sore shoulder. With no one protecting him in the lineup. If Fowler, Bader, O’Neill, or Thomas ever produced that, you’d be doing cartwheels.
If Fowler, Bader, O’Neill, or Thomas ever produced that, you’d be doing cartwheels.
Not Fowler, but if Bader, O’Neill or Thomas ever produced that they’d be 5+ WAR players because they’re not DHs like Ozuna. As is, Ozuna was a middling player here. Mediocre. Expendable. He burned his bridges with bad off-season preparation. I don’t understand at all why you continually defend a guy who showed that he didn’t care about what the front office asked him to do.
I guess because –
1.) He showed his potential in Miami.
2.) He was hurt here – maybe it affected his off season work out schedule.
3.) He had no protection here behind him in the line up.
4. Even with an injury and no protection he was one of the top hitters on the team.
5.) He had won a gold glove, and could possibly return to being at least an average fielder when his shoulder healed.Ozuna was OK with the Cardinals but they didn’t trade for him to be just OK. They needed him to be the player he was in Miami and Atlanta but he wasn’t. He put up decent offensive numbers but not great and on defense he looked like a bumbling little leaguer out there bouncing off walls and could only throw the ball 20 feet. And his off the field preparation looked like something CMart would come up with.
ZiPS Has Good News for the Cardinals
ZiPS projections are significantly more optimistic than Steamer’s. The result is an 8-10 win jump in the Cardinals’ projected win totals. https://t.co/YDQOeHJRDG pic.twitter.com/eASHANoBJ4
— viva el birdos (@vivaelbirdos) December 26, 2020
To translate, ZiPS has the Cardinals between 85-90 wins, with six wins being a pretty wide gap if you think about it. I guess four to nine wins over .500 is cause for celebration – at least when compared to Steamer’s dismal 78-win projection, three games under .500.
Sort of like saying it feels so good – when you stop hitting your thumb with a hammer… 😉
Seriously, 90 wins might take the division, but 85 feels like a return to Wild Card City and a first-round date with a better opponent. I think I know how it ends…
Seriously, 90 wins might take the division, but 85 feels like a return to Wild Card City and a first-round date with a better opponent. I think I know how it ends…
Well, the Cards beat what most considered the better team in 2019 in the Braves, then were a bullpen implosion from beating the Padres last year. Anything can happen, although all in all you’d tend to go with the more talented team. 85 wins is my call for now but there’s still time to make a key move. We shall see.
ZiPS Has Good News for the Cardinals.
Mozeliak must be damn proud of our right-fielder’s 0.1 and our third-baseman’s 1.7. If you look around there are many sub-2.0s. He would have to pick DeWitt’s pocket or convince him to fork over over some to fix this team for ’21. So far neither has occurred happened so they will keep wishing and hoping for all of our under-achievers to finally start playing at the level they are being paid.
Why there are folks here defending his past record. 2021 is now (+- a few days). Our Ruler and this Cardinal team is fortunate to be in the NLC division where there is near below mediocre teams and all waning at the start of the new decade. The 2020 team was exposed in the play-offs against SD.
Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com predicts the Cardinals will win the NL Central with the Brewers a Wild Card if there are 12 teams in the playoffs. He doesn’t see the Cubs or Reds making it even if there are 16 teams (which is more than Manfred says he wants).
There is never any methodology shown behind these, but MLB regularly publishes power rankings of all 30 teams. In their first 2021 rankings, here is now they have the Central.
12. StL
15. Cubs
16. Cin
18. Mil
30. PitThose first set of MLB predictions are pretty bold. Blue Jays and Braves? I’d be surprised. But I do like the picks for the division winners for the most part. The Cards need one more upgrade to 3B, even a slight one, and I think they easily handle the Central.
Those NLC rankings look about right to me. The top 4 will be bunched together with the Pirates solidly at the bottom. I would probably flip the Brewers and Reds as I think having Yelich getting back to normal and having Cain back in the lineup will definitely help the Crew.
For many of the other teams, this is too early in the offseason for me to put too much importance in these rankings. Some of these teams will be signing the top free agents ahead, which could change the balance.
However, for the Central, it is too early for the opposite reason. They still have more time to dump players and reduce payroll further… 😉
BenFred: The NL Central is there for the taking, if any team is interested in winning it https://t.co/lT4MdHXsyf
— STL Cardinals News (@STLCardsNews) January 3, 2021
Did these guys miss all the talent that left Cincy? Or did Bauer re-sign and I just missed it?
Very curious new NL Central odds from @betonline_ag.
Odds to Win NL Central:
Cincinnati Reds 9/4
St. Louis Cardinals 5/2
Chicago Cubs 11/4
Milwaukee Brewers 13/4
Pittsburgh Pirates 33/1— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) January 14, 2021
The Reds still have two very, very good starters and some quality position player talent. I wouldn’t say they are the favorites over the Cards, who have an overall better staff and at least equal position talent. But they are a team I have as 2nd in the division this coming year.
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